text: Speaking to BBC's Nolan Show, the 53-year-old entertainer from Donegal said nerves had impacted his performances.
  He said his anxiety was sometimes so bad he had struggled to walk down the stairs before the live show.
  Mr O'Donnell became the third celebrity to leave the competition at the weekend after failing to wow the judges in the dance off.
  He and Kristina Rihanoff faced sports presenter Kirsty Gallacher and Brendan Cole.
  But mistakes saw him being sent home.
  Mr O'Donnell and his partner performed the American Smooth to Frank Sinatra's Fly Me to the Moon, while Gallacher and Cole performed a Paso Doble to U2s Beautiful Day.
  Speaking on Saturday night's show, judge Craig Revel Horwood said: "One couple did really, really well in the dance-off and one couple, I am afraid, made a lot of mistakes.
  "I am going for the couple that was the most powerful, and that was Kirsty and Brendan."
  Mr O'Donnell told the Nolan Show that his nerves took him by surprise.
  "If I didn't have to do that live show every Saturday night it would have been the perfect experience.
  "The strange thing is I hadn't anticipated being nervous, I thought it would be hard to learn the routines, but I never anticipated that kind of nerves.
  "I can't explain it. It's ridiculous from the point of view of someone who has been on stage as many times as me."
  He told the show he couldn't speak highly enough of the crew, dancers and judges on Strictly but said he was "relieved" to have been voted off.
  "The dance off was a disaster". He said.
  "I forgot everything and maybe I was quite happy to go to tell you the truth."
  Mr O'Donnell said he wouldn't be doing any more reality TV, but he would keep dancing.
target: Irish singer Daniel O'Donnell was "relieved" to be voted out of Strictly Come Dancing at the weekend.